WHAT MEANING DO FORESTS HAVE IN FOLKTALES AND THE MIND

Episode Transcript

(00:01):
Welcome to myths, legends, andfolk tales, connecting the stories of the
past to the life and the present. We look today at the psychology of
the forest. Old folk tales tellus that the forest is a place of
change, a liminal place of darknessand peril, initiation, death, a

(00:27):
new life, rebirth can be foundin the tales and the forest inhabited by
mysterious supernatural creatures. It is someconsider the realm of the psyche of the
dark and devouring mother, the SlavicBaba Yaga, who grinds up dead matter
in her pestle and mortar. Whereasfor the Druids, the sun and the

(00:47):
forest represented the masculine and feminine,same as YOUNGI in psychotherapy, the sacred
marriage in alchemy from which all lifepours. Transcendentalists came from there, reconnecting
with Nager. You see, theworld has become an urban society, with
a vast number of people becoming alienatedfrom the traditional people nature relationship. So

(01:08):
what have many people done to fightthis? They've sought out the forest,
setting again kind of reflecting or remindingus of the times of Emerson and Thoreau
to search for a different perspective fromcity life. If forest's experience is considered
one approach to promoting balance and harmonyin the modern urbanit's life and the forest

(01:29):
environment has been described as a greathealth machine. So I wanted to give
you a little bit of a psychologicalperspective of why they use forests on folk
tales, or at least one reason, but also to give you the psychological
understanding how it's part of our innatehuman system to want to attach and connect

(01:53):
to nature. So many studies haveshown the positive effect of psychological healing and
well being in terms of recovering fromstress, improving concentration, and productivity by
simply viewing a forest scene. Iwant to take you to look at the
tree and how the tree has becomesuch a big part of folklore and tales

(02:15):
and legends and myths. But thinkabout it. The Christmas Tree, although
known in Germany in the beginning ofthe nineteenth century, seems to have had
its origin a very remote period.Think about December twenty fourth, how long
has been consecrated to Adam And evenlegend tells how Adam took with him from
Paradise a cutting from the Tree ofKnowledge, from which in due time was

(02:37):
taken the wood to form the cross. From this legend, the church appears
to have laid claim to the ChristmasTree as an institution of its own.
Or how about in Scandinavia. Anotherbelief is that this tree owes it's already
into the ash Ygdrassal, and thatthe ornaments which are usually suspended from it
are memorials of the stag, theeagle, and the squirrel, which had

(02:57):
their abode on that cosmogonicic ass Asomewhat similar tree is found in Burma.
It has formed from bamboos, andlike its European counterpart, is hung with
presents. The Christmas Tree and similartrees which bear gifts were thus known as
wishing trees and Burma, these treeswere sometimes made of silver. And we

(03:19):
have all sorts of trees, andwe'll talk about forests and other things and
myths and legends and folklore. ButI wanted to give you a little bit
of a brief touch of it,because trees play a big role. Worship
of trees, special symbolic trees,the genealogical tree. There's so much to
cover, but join us in ourjourney. Thanks for listening.